Nature Conservation Council of NSW (NCC), the state’s leading environmental advocacy organisation, is calling for an immediate moratorium on floodplain harvesting until the NSW Government can show that all floodplain harvesting take is being lawfully metered, remains within extraction limits, and is not undermining river flows, water allocations or downstream communities.
The call follows evidence given by the water regulator (the Natural Resources Access Regulator) during Budget Estimates in August that legal challenges to the validity of several floodplain harvesting licences have caused uncertainties for law enforcement.
A series of court cases have found licences issued under the former coalition government were legally deficient with licences declared invalid. The government is now considering changes to the regulatory framework.
Quotes attributed to NCC Chief Executive Officer, Jacqui Mumford:
“It is deeply concerning that licences governing access to enormous volumes of public water have been found by the courts to be invalid.
“This is a problem the current government inherited, but it is now the government’s responsibility to fix it.
“No licence should ever operate in circumstances where the regulator is warning that uncertainty about licence validity is making enforcement more difficult.
“The public has a right to expect that every litre taken from the floodplain is properly measured, within legal limits, and not reducing the flows that rivers, wetlands, downstream communities and First Nations people depend on.
“Until the Minister can be satisfied that floodplain harvesting is fully metered, operating within cap and not causing distortions in water allocations or base flows, a moratorium on floodplain harvesting should be put in place.
“The only fair system is one that balances all demands on our scarce water resources and manages them responsibly in the public interest.
“It is telling that these flaws have been exposed through successful legal action brought by other irrigators. Water users themselves have demonstrated that the current framework is not delivering the certainty and fairness that everyone deserves.
“The government must move quickly to pause floodplain harvesting while it repairs the regulatory framework and closes loopholes.”
The NCC wants to see the NSW Government implement the recommendations of the 2024 Connectivity Expert Panel.
“It has now been more than two years since the Connectivity Expert Panel delivered recommendations to improve river connectivity and strengthen the management of floodplain harvesting. The Panel recommended restricting floodplain harvesting when supplementary access is restricted so that more water can remain in the system and reach downstream rivers and communities.
“Healthy rivers, thriving wetlands, downstream communities and First Nations cultural values depend on a water management system that is lawful, accountable, enforceable and worthy of public trust.”
